Love for trains thrives at historic Deerfield Beach station

DEERFIELD BEACH — As the horn of a Tri-Rail train announced its arrival, the station off Hillsboro Boulevard was abuzz with model train buffs scoring collectibles on Saturday.

Economical starter kits for amateurs to $1,000-valued sets for serious collectors were strewn across more than 60 vendor tables flanking the entrance to the South Florida Railway Museum at the historic train station.

The museum open house and swap meet, which is held about three times a year, drew novices and lifelong collectors.

For John Bryson Smith, a Boca Raton accountant, it all started with a train display around his Christmas tree a few weeks ago.

After the tree came down, he made sure to keep his train set away from the dog so it wouldn't become its chew toy. Now, it's Smith's fast-growing obsession, he said.

"It's kind of fun to watch them ride around," he said. "I'll be limited by my space at home eventually."

Bob Rubini, a vendor at the event Saturday, got his first train set more than 70 years ago when he was a little boy. He has kept three train sets from his childhood that he treasures. But about 15 years ago, he started selling train sets and accessories, he said.

"It started out as a hobby and then it turned into a business," said Rubini, 75, who travels across the state selling collectibles.

While collectors chugged along the vendor area picking up additions to their sets at home, others took in some of the history with train displays and railroad memorabilia at the museum.

The museum site and train station, which was built during the 1920s land boom, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and boasts more than 600 train cars and 150 locomotive engines.

The station was part of the Seaboard Air Line railway system that extended from Orlando to Miami, said Richard Lindquist, a railway historian and past president of the museum's board.

Stations such as the Deerfield Beach one were an important part of daily life: telegrams would be sent from these hubs to deliver important news to relatives, such as the birth of a child. They also served as freight centers, depots and even town centers.

Residents would often sit and watch approaching trains to see who exited the cars, Lindquist said.

Nearly a century later, the Deerfield Beach station at 1300 West Hillsboro Blvd. remains, and so do the trains — along with enthusiasts who paid homage to the railway industry Saturday.

Lindquist said that although life may not revolve around railroad stations as it once did, a railway system is still just as vital.

"If the trains would shut down tomorrow, this country would come to a standstill," he said.